Sentencing of former township manager hopefully sends a message about trust

The question could be asked if the saga of former West Brandywine Township Manager Ronald Rambo Jr. is typical of small town politics in Chester County – or that of other places across Pennsylvania.

Many people who are not from Pennsylvania often are amazed at how the cities, townships, boroughs and villages are run – or run into the ground.

So is Rambo typical or is he the exception? It depends on who you ask.

Longtime employee Carrie Pike says she remembers the day in 1998 when she began working in West Brandywine.

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“I was 40 years old,” she said in a letter to Common Pleas Court Judge William P. Mahon. “I didn’t have a clue as to how a township was run, but as I learned how to do my job I began to love my job. I thought, ‘This is the job I will have until I retire.’ I looked forward to going to work every day.”

But, as she described in the letter, which was read during the sentencing proceeding for Rambo, Pike’s boss, that feeling of job satisfaction changed over time as she realized just how the township was run.

Her description of how Rambo treated the township — and its finances — as his private, personal domain, echoed the statements of others during and after the recent court hearing.

“Mr. Rambo could pretty much do whatever he wanted and not have to worry about the consequences,” she wrote. He “is a bully and ran the township as though it was his.” When his improprieties were eventually called to the attention of the three-member elected Board of Supervisors, they turned their ire towards the whistleblowers who accused Rambo — Pike and the township auditors –—and let Rambo go without any disciplinary action.

Prosecutors said that the attitude toward Rambo’s behavior made him believe he could essentially steal from the township and get away with it.

Rambo, 60, of West Brandywine, was sentenced last Tuesday to two to 23 months in Chester County Prison on counts of forgery and theft. His sentencing marked the first municipal official — elected or appointed — to be sentenced to prison for criminal activity related to his or her position in recent county history.

“This man took a position of trust and in turn betrayed the trust of the taxpayers,” Pike wrote.

And that’s really the point. How it happened is not important. What’s important is that Rambo broke his trust and that’s something not acceptable in local government.

Yes, Pennsylvania’s system of small kingdoms seems to make it ripe for this sort of activity but it doesn’t make it right. And those supervisors, council people or others who allow it to continue are just as responsible.

Perhaps Rambo’s jailing will send a message throughout the county that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated.